In Monday’s guest column, Mr. Christ claims progressive ideas have fared well in every intellectual arena, boasting of such stallions as higher educational standards, social safety net programs and business regulations.
His use of the modifier “intellectual” is especially fitting because in the arena of reality, these programs actually do very poorly.
Indeed one might question to which programs he refers.
The social safety net programs that he boasts have lifted millions out of poverty have done nothing of the sort. Poverty rates trended strongly down until 1965, the year after President Johnson declared war on poverty.
Maybe he means the educational standards that allow American students to increasingly lag behind the rest of the world, while simultaneously requiring ever more extravagant expenditures?
Or maybe he means the business regulations that increase operating costs, allowing larger firms to increasingly dominate smaller competitors who cannot afford to comply?
Such programs have unquestioned popularity in political and intellectual circles, if only more attention was paid to their results.
Editor's note: This letter refers to this column.
